Tino in Wonderland
by AudioSafari
Summary: When Tino Väinämöinen tumbles down a rabbit hole into a strange new world, his life will change forever- and in more ways than one. Based on the Lewis Carrol books 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Through the Looking Glass'. SwedenxFinland
1. Down The Rabbit Hole

It was one of the warmest weeks of the winter, with bright skies and soft breezes. The snow had predictably melted, but Tino knew that the cold weather would begin again soon enough. That's why he begged his mother to let him go out, to at least go and walk the dog. All those weeks spent indoors made his lungs itch and head ache; he needed to inhale fresh air for once.

"Absolutely not," she replied. "You have an engagement this afternoon, Tino. I won't have you get your clothes dirty." "I won't," he promised, giving her the most pitiful expression he could muster. "I _need_ to go out, Mother! _Please?" _But her answer had been the same, and to ensure the safety of her son she herded him into his room and locked the door from the outside, certain that he would give up after that. But she had underestimated him- this was what he had been waiting for!

After constructing a simple rope from his bedsheets and securing it to his dresser, he shimmied his way down the side of the house through the window and landed somewhat gracefully in the garden. Making sure he had what he needed in his messenger bag, he cautiously lifted himself over the garden wall and sprinted into the woods that surrounded his home.

Finally! After what seemed like an eternity, he was free! He gave a laugh as he circled a tree once or twice, then continued his romp. He heard a little muffled squeak rise from his bag, and he stopped what he was doing in order to undo the top. "Sorry, Hanatamago! I forgot you were in there!" Hanatamago, a little white mixed breed, yapped eagerly as Tino set her down to sniff and stretch her legs. Once she had finished her business, Tino whistled for her and he continued to run, allowing his dog to follow. It felt so good, to have the wind running across his scalp and the scent of trees in his nostrils. It had been far too long. Hanatamago barked wildly as she ran, almost as if she were laughing, and Tino couldn't help but join in as he lead them deeper into the woods.

Soon Tino tired of running (his legs were getting a little sore), and he looked for a nice place to sit down. He soon found one, a large oak tree with branches that looked strong enough for climbing on. He found a nice dry patch of grass beside the base, and he sat down with his back against the tree to catch his breath.

"It's so nice to be out," he told Hanatamago, who had opted for curling up in his lap. "I wish Mother would let us do this more often..." But he knew that would be an impossibility. The problem with being from a rich family was that you had everything chosen and decided for you. Your clothes, your education, your _friends. _Tino frowned a little at the thought- after all, this was one of the main reasons he had fled the house.

He was a few weeks away from becoming eighteen years old, and that meant that he was nearing the marrying age. His mother had introduced him to a countless amount of girls, each one coming from a noble background with decent, proper interests. He didn't want to hurt their feelings- he just didn't like girls, not in that way at least. They were fussy, well groomed, and worst of all, _expectant_. One of the things he hated most of all was when a girl he thought was ok turned him down just because he wasn't as masculine as some other boys. Whatever, he didn't care. Today his mother had invited a close friend and her daughter over for tea, and because of this Tino had already planned his escape through the window in advance. The pleasant weather was a well-timed bonus.

Sliding his bag from his shoulder, Tino undid the top and pulled out it's contents- a small bag of butter cookies and a hardcover book. He gave half of a cookie to Hanatamago (he ate the other half) and wiped his hands on his sweater before turning the book over to read the title.

_Alice in Wonderland _had always been Tino's favorite book ever since it was first read to him as a child. He loved the oddness of it all, how nothing seemed normal or constant. He often imagined himself as Alice in certain situations, deciding from her point of view on how to make the right choice when no one seemed to agree with him or his unusual way of thinking. He especially loved to talk about it when guests were over; sometimes he loved to see his mother squirm. She had called this wishful thinking, telling him that it wasn't healthy for him._ "You need to spend more time focusing on practical things, not nonsense. This kind of thinking won't find you a wife or give me grandchildren." _Tino had gagged a little the fist time she had said it. Now it just made him shudder.

He flipped open the book to where his bookmark sat nestled in between the pages. There he picked up where he had left reading- the tea party, his favorite scene.

_Alice felt dreadfully puzzled. The Hatter's remark seemed to have no sort of meaning in it, and yet it was certainly English. 'I don't quite understand you,' she said, as politely as she could._

_'The Dormouse is asleep again,' said the Hatter, and he poured a little hot tea upon its nose._

_The Dormouse shook its head impatiently, and said, without opening its eyes, 'Of course, of course; just what I was going to remark myself.'_

_'Have you guessed the riddle yet?' the Hatter said, turning to Alice again._

_'No, I give up," Alice replied: 'what's the answer?'_

_'I haven't the slightest idea,' said the Hatter._

_'Nor I,' said the March Hare._

Tino giggled and continued reading. When he looked up to stretch his neck, he realized that he had read through the rest of the book. He smiled at the idea, knowing that it wasn't the first time. Closing the book and placing it back in his bag, he leaned against the tree and sighed. Sunlight bent through the thick layer of trees, and the sound of Hanatamago breathing in his lap lulled him into a wonderful state of mind. _If only_, he thought, with Alice's adventures still running through his head. _If only real life could be this perfect._

---

Tino woke with a start, the way people do when they're surprised or scared. He made little sound of discomfort and rubbed at his eyes, trying to rid the sleep from them. The trees rustled with the breeze, and the dark clouds that highlighted their tops told of an approaching storm. "That's funny. I don't remember falling asleep," he yawned. It was then he noticed the absence of warmth in his lap. "Hanatamago?" he called, craning his head. Then something rustled in the brush beside him, and a little white head popped out of the greenery.

"Hanatamago, there you are!" Tino huffed. "Where did you-" The words died on his lips, however, as Hanatanago pushed her way out of the rest of the foliage...

She was wearing a waistcoat, with red and black checkers and little silver pockets. As she sat down on her haunches, she lifted up her front paws and reached around and under the coat and retrieved a tiny gold pocket watch, all the while balancing perfectly. Tino sat there dumbfounded as as his puppy sat not five feet away, happily oblivious to him. Since when could she hold anything? Dogs didn't have thumbs! And where had she gotten that waistcoat from?

"Oh no!" she squeaked suddenly, and Tino sat upright from the shock, his head knocking back into the tree. She could talk, too?! This was just too strange! "Oh no no no no! I'm dreadfully, awfully, _horribly _late! The Queen will have my head for sure!" Stuffing the watch into one of the pockets, Hanatamago got back down on all fours an turned, sprinting towards the direction she had just come from.

Now _this _was weird! What was she late for, and who was this 'Queen' she was meeting with? Curiosity getting the better of him, Tino leapt up and stumbled after his puppy, trying to keep her in his field of vision.

"Hanatamago! Hanatamago, wait! Hey, wait up!" It seemed that the more he called for her, the more she sped up. Soon he decided against shouting- it was hard to run, breathe and yell at the same time. This whole situation was just getting weirder and weirder. He was having deja vu- this had happened before! But where, and when? He couldn't remember anything...

Hanatamago suddenly banked to the left, and Tino braked and pivoted successfully, resuming his chase. She was leading him into the deepest part of the woods, and it was getting hard to keep up with her. The increasing number of brambles tore at his clothes, and low hanging branches whipped at his face, making it more and more difficult to see.

Something suddenly caught hold of his ankle, and his face met the ground rather quickly. Spitting out a mouthful of soil, Tino lifted his head fast enough to see Hanatamago's curly little tail disappear under a log.

His foot had been snagged by an exposed tree root, and he worked to free himself before standing up to assess the damage to his clothes. His sweater was absolutely ruined, the brambles doing quite a number on it, and his pants were soiled from the fall. His mother was going to have a fit! But he couldn't let that get to him now, not when he had Hanatamago cornered. When he got a hold of her he was going to milk all the information out of her. Like how and where she had learned to talk.

The log was a rotten old thing, overgrown and choked with ivy and ferns. It looked like there was a vertical crack that ran across the top- if he lifted from the bottom, it would most likely break there. Figuring that he couldn't get any dirtier, Tino dug his fingers into into the soft wet earth and lifted, using his foot for leverage on one side. Sure enough, it fractured where he predicted, and he tossed the piece aside to be met by a gush of...

Air?

Since when was there a breeze under a log? Cautiously Tino pushed the rest of the foliage away to find a gaping black hole looking up right at him. _It's huge! _He thought. Even though it was half-covered by the rest of the log it was still big enough to fall down. But could Hanatamago really have gone down there? There wasn't anywhere else she could have hidden. Nervously, he bent down and looked over the side, staring down into the great black maw.

"H...Hanatamago? Are you down there?" But before anyone could respond, or he had time to say anything else, the earth beneath his feet crumbled and he fell.

---

**Hello everyone! Thank you for reading the first installment of 'Tino in Wonderland'! The film and literature club at my school has been reading all of Lewis Carrols' works this past month, and we decided to go see the movie in IMAX 3D as a wrap-up to the semester. When all of these Alice induced thoughts started creepin' through my head, along with the promise of a Season 3 of Hetalia (INCLUDING THE NORDICS!!!), I knew this had to be done. Tino would make such a great Alice, wouldn't he? XD Thanks for dropping by- I'll try not to be too long with the next chapter, and I hope to see some of you there!**


	2. The Waiting Room

As soon as Tino realized he was falling, he immediately reached for something to grab a hold of. But he couldn't. He just kept falling. Screaming, he tried to dig his fingers into the earthy walls as a last resort. He had dreams like this, dreams of tumbling off buildings or terraces, and continuing to fall even after his body had hit the looked up, or at least the direction he thought was up- the tiny circle of light was growing smaller and smaller. He managed to get himself into a vertical position and somewhat slow his fall, but his grip was lost once more as his fingers slid across an exposed rock, and he was thrown back into the void.

Soon the light had disappeared all together, and Tino continued to fall amidst blackness. It felt like a dream, like the ones when you didn't have any control of your body. Tino hated those dreams more than anything.

_Crap! How long have I been falling?_ It seemed like only a few minutes, but he knew that going this speed he was getting close to the center of the Earth. But then again, if he was he would have already melted from the heat by now. There had to be and end to this hole. There had to be! But he had read about caves before, about how some of them kept going for miles and miles. The idea made him feel queasy.

Suddenly he was shaken out of his rem-like state by light being poured into the darkness around him. Light... that meant an exit! He managed a mid air turn to look around. He expected to see anything pertaining to caves- water, bats, stalactites. But all he saw was... furniture?

He hit the seat of an armchair shoulder first, and the violence of the impact shattered the strong wood of it's frame, sending both it's remains and it's occupant tumbling to the ground. Tino seized his shoulder immediately, crying out as he felt white hot pain spread through it like a wild fire. _Oh Hell, _he thought, trying to hold back tears. He curled in on himself, sobbing through clenched teeth on the cool ground. A trip to the doctor's office sound so appealing right now- that armchair had done anything _but _cushion his fall.

Regaining his composure sometime later, Tino had the strength to use his good arm to sit up and take a look at the extent of his injury. He tried to move his arm, testing the wrist and fingers; good, they still worked! But his left shoulder was really messed up. Slowly but surely, Tino got up on his feet as he took a look around the room he had landed in. It seemed to be some sort or storage area, used for nothing but furniture. A wooden door set into the wall in the corner told him that this wasn't a single room; it was connected to something.

Being careful not to catch his shredded clothes on anything, he limped over to to door and gave it a push- it opened without much difficulty. Sconces lighted a passageway that gently sloped upward. Tino stepped through the frame out of curiosity, but as he did the door shut behind him. All he could do now was to press on.

As he continued on through the dim light, Tino couldn't help but let his mind wander. What would happen if he never found a way out of here? This was starting to feel more and more like a bad dream. He now saw that his shoulder had a large purple bruise that rippled across it, and the sight of it made him slightly sick. Then the light ended abruptly and Tino had to suffice with groping his way through the dark. "This just isn't normal," he said to himself as he walked along. "Who puts furniture at the bottom of a hole?"

Suddenly there came a noise from behind. Tino gave a little shriek and turned to face the unknown, but of course he couldn't see anything in this darkness. "H...hello? Is there somebody here?" He began to walk backwards, still keeping one hand against the earthy wall for support. The noise continued, a slow dragging sound.

Terror seized control of Tino's legs as he ran, his limp not even noticeable anymore. He was going to die. He was going to get torn to pieces down in this stupid tunnel, and he'd never get to see the light of day again. _Dammit, Tino! Why couldn't have you stayed home?! _Then, at the end of his line of vision, he saw something- light, two more sconces hanging on either side of the tunnel. And sitting between them, thank God, another door. Finding new meaning in life, Tino ran up and gave the thing the shaking of it's life. It wouldn't budge, and he began to panic as the dragging sound became louder and louder.

"C-crap! Open, you stupid thing!" And suddenly, as if it were offended by the boy's comment, the door swung open, and Tino pitched forward as he fell through the frame and landed on his face. Not wasting a second he kicked it close, falling back to catch his breath once he was sure it was secure. _"Wh..what... the heck was that?!" _Thankfully there was no one there to answer him.

This new room was better off than it's counterpart from down the hall- it had polished marble floors, and instead of broken furniture it sported a single glass table. Bright light contrasted with the dark velvety curtains that lined the walls. But there still was problem- there was no other way out. Emboldened from his brush with certain death, Tino stood up and began to work methodically around the room, shuffling through the thick curtains. He was feeling for another exit, but all he found behind were cold brick walls. He was about to give up yet again when foot became caught on something. Thinking fast, Tino was able to save himself from humiliation by seizing one of the curtains and lowering himself gently to the ground.

He had nearly twisted his ankle on a little wooden chest of drawers. It looked like the ones that girls kept their jewelery and keepsakes in, and on closer inspection it was extremely well detailed, elegant filligrie curling around the edges. Whoever made it certainly had a knack for woodwork. He was about to set back where he had found it, against the edge of an exposed part of the wall. But now there was something there that hadn't been before.

"A door!" It was a tiny little thing, just large enough to hide behind a small chest of drawers. No wonder he hadn't seen it. But now the question was obvious- how was he going to get through? He supposed that he could de-brick the wall until he was big enough to crawl through, but that wold take far too long. "There's gotta be something in here I can use..." And there was.

On the table sat a glass flask, a paper tag attached to it's neck by a piece of string. "Okay... That definitely wasn't there before." It was filled with an opaque liquid that Tino couldn't quite put a name to. He picked it up and turned it around to inspect the tag-

_Drink me._

Using his good hand to unscrew the cap, he gave it a sniff. It didn't have any smell; whose to say it wasn't poison? Figuring that he hadn't anything to lose, he poured a small amount of the liquid into his mouth, just in case it was a fatal amount. It really didn't have a taste to it; another reason it could have been deadly. But then Tino noticed something odd. Before he had been able to hold the flask just by using his thumb and forefinger- now it filled up his entire hand. And his clothes had become a lot looser. Then he realized- he was shrinking! Panicking, Tino dropped the flask as he lost his footing and he felt the collar of his sweater disappear over his head.

For a while he was swimming in his clothes, then he felt his feet touch the floor and his head pop out of an opening. He only reached about three inches high now, and the rest of the room seemed to tower over him. "A potion that'll make you shrink... Who'd have thought?" he said, rubbing his shoulder. In doing this he realized that he was actually _naked _underneath all of this fabric, which caused a blush to quickly rise to his face. Luckily he didn't have to move very far to get to the little door, and he reached for the doorknob as he tried to keep himself decent.

"Hey, what're you doing?!" Recoiling immediately, Tino gave a little scream as he fell backwards. Where had that voice come from?! "Yo, kid. Down here."

The doorknob! The doorknob had a little face in it! A young man with features carved into the brass stared up at him, a pair of glasses set on the bridge on it's 'nose'. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to cover up your face like that!" Tino said, finding it odd that he was actually apologizing to a doorknob. "You're ok! It happens all the time. Say, you look like you're new in these parts- what brings you all the way down here?" Here Tino remembered his mission statement. " Oh, that's right! I'm looking for my puppy, maybe you've seen her? She was wearing a little waistcoat with black and red checkers. Has she gone this way?" The doorknob made a face and gave a rather dry response.

"Yeah, I saw her. Ran through to the other side a little while ago, muttering about being late or something..." "That was her! Please, I need to get through!" he reached for the doorknob again, but it gave another shout of warning. "Whoa! Hey, no one gets through with the key!" "K-key?" Tino stammered. "There's a key?" "Don't tell me you left it up there?" Indeed, there was a keyhole set into the door at his eye level, and as he looked up he could see a brass key sitting on the table through the glass. "But that's not fair!" he wailed, missing the doorknob mutter a quick apology. "That wasn't there before! How do you expect me to get up there now?" "Dude, bummer. Well at least there's the cake." "Cake?" Tino felt his head tilt to the side, the way a curious dog would. "Yeah, check the dresser."

He did what the doorknob said, moving through his clothes to the dresser that he had moved aside when he was his normal size. It wasn't miniature anymore, and on opening the first drawer he found a whole cake sitting inside, _Eat me _written in frosting across the top. A slice had conveniently been cut out and set onto a china plate, and Tino took the fork that was placed beside it and took a bite. Finding that it was actually quite good he quickly finished off the slice and cut out another piece, but this seemed to make the doorknob panic. "Dude! Dude, not the whole thing!"

Suddenly there was a terrific crash, followed by pain at the top of his head as it smashed into something hard, his arms being pinned to his sides. Tino now filled up the entire room, his head pressing into the ceiling and his legs pulled up near his chest, and while his clothes hadn't split apart at the seams they had begun to cut into his sides rather painfully. "S-sorry about that!" he called down, realizing the heel of his right foot was now smothering the little door. This new angle made his injured shoulder throb mercilessly, and he quickly got to work in freeing himself.

He used his enormous pointer finger to tap the edge of the table until the key rattled off and onto the floor. Locating the flask (it was more or less a vial now), he moved his un-injured shoulder up and down until his shirt was bound around his elbow, then reached up and quickly swallowed what was left of the flask. He braced himself as he felt the ground rush towards him, being swallowed up by his clothes once again.

"Good for you, kiddo," the doorknob praised as Tino surfaced. "You got out of that mess pretty fast." "Thanks, but what do I do now? I don't have anything to wear." "Of course you do. Check the dresser." The drawer that had been open before had been closed, and upon opening it again Tino found an entire outfit folded inside- a light green tunic, a muddy colored pair of pants and a pair of sandals. A nice pair of smoky gray fingerless gloves were placed aside from the rest of these; he had never really liked gloves, but it would be rude not to take them.

"Why is it," Tino sighed as he dressed himself, "that absolutely nothing here makes sense?" "Kid, you're gonna get a lot of that down here." Tino hurried to fetch the key, stranded at the other side of the room. Finding that it was actually bigger that he was, he resorted to dragging it along behind him.

"You're gonna want to get that shoulder of yours looked at. Oh, and a word of warning..." The doorknobs 'eyes' narrowed as he spoke, low and menacing. "Word gets around down here, and let's just say I've heard some bad things. Stay away from anyone who wears the color red. That is, unless you wanna wind up dead." Tino felt himself break out into a cold sweat. There was certainty in the doorknob's voice, like these horrible things happened on a daily basis. He could be sending himself into a death trap... But he had to know what Hanatamago was doing down here, he just had to!

Mustering up his courage, Tino lifted the key until it was level with the keyhole. It slid in, fitting perfectly. Without even turning it he heard the lock click open, and the door swung open as Tino stepped forward...

---

**A cookie and 100 points for whoever knows who the doorknob is supposed to be. :3  
Wow, two chapters of the same story published, and less from a month from each other- I'm very proud of myself. Unfortunately you'll have to wait for the next chapter a little bit longer, as I have meetings to go to and essays to write. But now I've got the an outline of the plot written down; I think you guys will like this a lot. Thank you to everyone who commented on the first chapter- you guys are the reason why I do this.  
**


	3. Welcome To Mystery

The light pouring through the crack in the door momentarily blinded Tino, so he took careful little steps to make sure that he didn't run into or fall over anything he couldn't see. Soon his sight returned, and he took in a breath as the door closed behind him and the sound of the wild filled his ears.

The door he had just walked through was set into a large stone that seemed to be placed in the center of a huge meadow. There was an outcrop cut into the rock where he stood, and from his vantage point Tino could see tall stalks of grass mingling with flowers that dwarfed him by several feet. He also took note that packed in between the other plants were cluster after cluster of giant mushrooms, speckled in red and white and tan and every possible color a mushroom could be. Well, maybe he was over exaggerating on their size- he _was_ about four inches high.

In the every direction he could see a line of trees, their branches bleak and bare, seeming to blend in with the dark, smoky sky. It looked like there was a storm coming, or maybe it had already passed- it smelled like rain. Above the tops of the trees were the unmistakable points of a range of snow-capped peaks.

For a moment Tino just stood there, taking in everything around him. Then, like a veritable time bomb, he blew. He felt his breath shorten and his chest became tighter. He had to get out of there, none of this was making any sense. He turned to return through the door, but saw that it had already melted into the rock, or disappeared entirely. Either way it was gone- there would be no way to return to the waiting room. He then resorted to the 'pinching yourself' technique- that always did the trick. He seized a small amount of the skin on his arm between his fingernails and pulled sharply, closing his eyes before he did so. When he opened them again he was still there, still the the height of a coffee mug and standing in the middle of nowhere. Panicking, Tino continued to pinch himself until his whole arm was covered in tiny little puncture marks. His knees folded and he cowered there against the cold rock, holding his head in his hands and making pathetic little noises.

He wished that he could remember where this had happened before. It _had_ happened, he was sure of it. Had it been a dream, or was it real life? His mind was trying to be rational, telling him that there was no way that there could be a sky and trees and grass underground. But they were here, and they felt real. The wind that whistled above his head felt real, and so did the cold stone he sat on. "I... if this _is_ a dream," he finally told himself, "Then I'll wake up soon. Nothing's ever hurt me in a dream before, so I don't need to worry."_ But my shoulder _does _really hurt..._

Then something caught his eye- grass and flowers parting in the distance, and a very unnerved voice rising through the air. "The Queen! The Queen! She'll have my head for sure!" "Hanatamago!" Tino breathed. He stood and called for her, bellowing as loud as he could and waving his arms. "Hanatamago! Hey, over here! Heel!" But it was no use, she couldn't hear him. Tino watched as the line of parted grass extended towards the woods, listening to her voice disappear into the trees. "I can't afford to lose my head!"

"Crap. Well, I might as well go after her." Making sure not to slip, he gently lowered himself down the rocky face, being very mindful of his shoulder. He let go only when he was sure that his feet were on firm ground. "Alrighty, then. Let's get this show on the... _whoa._"

An aerial view gave the impression that the mushrooms here were giant, albeit normal. But only when you looked under them did they have any sort of interest; they _glowed._ Maybe it was the dim light down here, or the fact that there were so may of them packed together, but the bottoms of these mushrooms _glowed! _Each different species and type gave off a different florescent color_,_ creating an amazing natural light show. It was mesmerizing, and Tino found himself momentarily forgetting his mission to revel in this exiting freak of nature.

"It's like a dream," he gawked, reaching up to run his hands under the fronds of a large blue giant. He laughed when little particles of white light traveled up and away from where he had touched. "Just like a dream." But none of the dreams he had ever had giant glowing mushrooms or talking doorknobs. Just what was this place?

"Alright!" He declared, pulling his face into what he thought was a very manly expression. "Playtime is over; time to get serious! Now, if I were a talking puppy, where exactly would I go?" Tino realized that this wouldn't be much help to him. Not only was Hanatamago able to speak and think like a person now, she was way bigger and could run much faster. Plus she had the promise of getting her head chopped off to give her a spring to her step. Which raised another question- Who the heck was in charge here? The queen, obviously. But by the way Hanatamago had spoken about her she wasn't a very fair monarch. Who went around chopping off people's heads?

Well, he couldn't worry about that now. He had a puppy to find. Perhaps the palace was on the other side of the woods- he would start his search there. Taking a deep breath he started on his way through the foliage, taking a wide trail that wiggled through it like a maze.

As he wandered further and further into the meadow the mushrooms became more sparsely populated, and little skylights soon opened up that let in skinny rays of light and showed great big expanses of the sky. Tino now wondered if he could climb up and see where exactly he was. Using a stubby little toadstool as a lift, he hoisted himself through the canopy and onto a bigger mushroom to get a good eye view of his surroundings. He was surprised to find that he had hardly gone any distance at all- the woods were still far off on the horizon. "This is gonna take longer than I thought," he muttered as he slid down. Now he had to make a big decision- the path from here split. Which way should he go?

"Hello? Is there someone there?" Tino stiffened as a distressed voice rose from around the right side of the trail. Whoever it was, they didn't seem like potential danger. The voice sounded worn out and pathetic. Deciding to be brave, he cautiously turned the corner to see someone sticking halfway out of the side of the road, laying flat on his belly.

It was a boy, about the same age as he was. A single curling strand of hair sprung out from the russet colored mop on his head, accompanied by tawny eyes. He wore a cute little sailor outfit, the kind you usually saw extremely spoiled children wear. He was wedged under a branching twig that had been pushed into the dirt, and it looked like the sides were pushing into him painfully. Looking up at Tino, his bottom lip began to tremble uncontrollably.

"Er, ah, d-do you think you can help me? I lost my group, and I was chasing a centipede, and... Oh, this is embarrassing..." "N... no, I can help," Tino stated. "Let me see if I can get this off of you." He clambered onto a small red-capped mushroom and took the top of the twig into his hands. He started to lift, wiggling the branch back and forth, hoping that one end would come loose. Eventually the right end snapped from the excess pressure, and the boy gave a whoop as he pushed himself through.

"Wow, it worked! Thanks for helping me out, I'm such a klutz!" "Oh, it's no problem," Tino laughed, stepping down to greet him. "I'm just like that too." "I'm Feliciano, by the way! What's your name?" "Tino," he replied, taking the hand that was offered to him and shaking it. "Tino Väinämöinen. It's nice to meet you." "Are you here to go see the Caterpillar too?" Tino's face fell and his head tilted to the side in confusion. "Excuse me?" "The Caterpillar," Feliciano repeated, looking back in surprise. "Don't tell me you don't know who he is? Why else would you be on this side of Wonderland?"

_Wonderland. _So this place actually had a name! "S-sorry, I only just got here. I don't know anything about this place." When he said this Feliciano gawked at him for a moment. Then the boy's face lit up into a smile that was almost painful to look at. "Wait... Wait! Do you mean your an Uplander?!" "Er, what? What do you mean?" "You know," the other boy whispered, grabbing Tino's arm and pointing a finger to the darkening sky. "From _up there?"_ "Um, yeah. I guess I am. I came down here to find my puppy, but the-"

"_Dio mio_!" Feliciano squealed, pulling away to clap and dance an odd litttle jig. "_Stupefacente_! Oh my gosh, this is so cool! _Questo è incredibile!" _Tino was at a loss for what to say. Since when was falling down a giant hole, nearly being murdered by a tunnel phantom and fracturing your shoulder a _good_ thing?

"Ve, I'm sorry about that!" The other boy apologized, coming off his high. "I got a little carried away. But this is so cool, Tino! Uplanders almost never find their way down here- only a few every thousand years! They're a sign of good change!" "R...really?" Tino said, feeling very prideful all of a sudden. The word 'Uplander' sounded very grand, like a hero from one of the old stories he had read. "Have you guys been needing any change?"Feliciano's smile vanished very quickly, and his voice became unenthusiastic and melancholic as he spoke of Wonderlands' dark history.

"This hasn't been the funnest place to live. About ten years ago, the Red Queen seized the throne after her father, the King, passed away. Her older sister, the White Queen, was supposed to take over, but she was exiled to go live on the other side of the Great Mountains. Ever since then, us Wonderlanders have been living in fear, scared of our own shadows! When one of us does something the Queen doesn't like, she sends her soldiers and monsters out to get us! It's been horrible!

But things are different now!" "How so?" "The White Queen is putting together an army in secret. People from all over Wonderland have been flocking to her palace, and once she has enough soldiers she's gonna fight to take back the throne! And since you're here, Tino, that can mean only one thing- We're gonna win!"

"My god, do you _ever_ shut up?!" Tino turned quickly to see another boy come come hiking up the same path he had taken here. Wait, was he seeing double?! It was another Feliciano! This young man had the exact same eye color, hair color, and the same odd curl as the boy standing beside him! He was even wearing the same suit! The only thing that seemed different was his facial expression- it was downright negative. It took a moment to realize that this wasn't another Feliciano, but merely a twin. He was being followed by a man with shaggy chocolate hair and bright green eyes, clad in sandy colored slacks. "_Fratello_! Big brother!" Feliciano laughed and launched himself at the two, knocking both to the ground. Although he was happy to see the him, his twin was far less enthusiastic about it.

"You idiot," he roared, grabbing his brother and shaking him until he squealed. "What have I told you about talking to strangers?! And why are you always so loud? Do you want the entire Royal Guard following our trail?!" "Lovi, you aren't too much of a saint yourself." The older man broke up the quarreling boys, then stood up to introduce himself. He gave Tino a warm smile as he offered him his hand.

"Sorry, these twins can be a real handful. I'm Antonio, and this is Lovino. Lovi, go on and say hello." Lovino stood sulking behind his guardian, shooting Tino a spiteful glance. "I don't wanna... It's stupid." "Ve, you're so mean, fratello!" Tino smiled and shook Antonio's hand, happy to have more friends in this odd new world. "I'm Tino, from Finland. It's very nice to meet you both." "My, you have some nice manners," The man laughed. "I wish my boys had manners like yours. Finland? I've never heard of it. Is it in the Great Mountains?" "Um, no, it's-"

"Big brother!" Feliciano suddenly began tugging on his guardians shirt sleeve, bright and energetic. "Big brother, guess what? Guess what I know!" "Not now, Feli. I'm talking to our new friend." "Tino is an Uplander! He told me so!" Lovino, who had been pouting on the edge of the trail, perked at the word 'Uplander'. He immediately stomped over to Tino, shoving his face into the other boy's, making him shout in surprise. "Whoa, hey! Personal space, please!"

"You're an _Uplander?" _The boy sniffed, giving Tino a good looking over. "You don't seem very special to me." Meanwhile Antonio was scolding the other twin, his jovial attitude now downcast. "Feli, you know I've told you not to lie. It's not nice." "Ve, I'm not lying, big brother! He really is!" "Th-that's right," Tino spoke up, standing up for the boy. "I really did come from the world above this one. I-" He was about to tell them about Hanatamago, but after remembering what Feliciano had said about the Queen's Royal Guard and the doorknob's warning, it was probably best not to. "..I got lost in the woods, and I fell down this huge hole. See, I even hurt my shoulder in the fall!" He stepped forward and tugged down his left tunic sleeve, showing off the monster of a bruise.

All eyes went to Antonio, who at the moment seemed like the leader of this little group. He crouched down on a pebble, his hands folded across his mouth. The man didn't seem too convinced. Anyone could have hurt their shoulder in some obscure way, and anyone could claim to be someone they were not. People down here probably claimed that they were Uplanders all the time. Tino realized that this one little conflict could cost him having any allies down here.

"You _could_ be an Uplander," Antonio began warily. "But you couldn't be. It's hard for me to tell. Us Wonderlanders don't have the best common sense, so it's hard to make good decisions sometimes." _"You've got that right," _Lovino muttered darkly, but he was quickly silenced by his twin. Finally Antonio gave a little sigh and stood up, wincing as his back straightened with an audible pop_._

"Well, I don't know what to say. Clearly I can't make the right decision without any help- he's coming with us to see the Caterpillar."

**When I first started this chapter my mom repeatedly told me to add in the Italy twins. And who wouldn't? No good **_**Alice in Wonderland **_**cover story is complete with out twins (Romano would totally be Tweedle Dum XD). Spain isn't supposed to be anyone in the **_**Alice **_**world. I kind of added him as an after thought, 'cause it was weird writing about the twins without one of their 'big brothers'. This chapter was also supposed to be longer, but it had already reached the desired length by the time I had reached the middle of the planned chapter. From now on I'm gonna try and update monthly, so I'll have a nice solid block of writing time. I'm so glad all of you are enjoying this.  
****Also, congrats to those who guessed that the doorknob was America- you were right!**


	4. UPDATE

**Good day, everyone. **

**I'm sorry to say that this is not a new chapter. Instead, I'm here today to announce that this fic, Tino in Wonderland, will temporarily be put on hold. It's not that I've grown tired of it, far from it! I hit a snag while writing a month back, and since then none of the chapter I had been working on made any sense. Everytime I tried to edit a word or re-do a paragraph, the entire thing would sound and feel so unlike my writing. I finally had to wipe it all clean.  
I know exactly how I want the next chapter to be written, and the one after that and so on. But this current one feels like a great big sinkhole that's been sucking all of my ideas down into the muck. Plus there's always so much I do already that constantly takes away from my writing- PCT, kitten fostering, helping with my youth center's financial problems, putting in hours at the bakery... And there are so many great ideas I have for other fics, I don't want them to be pressed down and left to wither away while I struggle with this fic. I feel horrible about this, but I know that it'll be better for me if I don't have one more thing to worry about on my plate. I hope you guys understand, and I hope that you'll continue to support me and my writing. Remember, it'll only be temporary.  
**

**Thank you (as always),  
F.F**


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